Let it be said, before explaining the lore of Pi Day, that we’re planning to have pie, not cake, at my wedding in August. I adore pie in its many forms. I like eating it and I like baking it.

Every year, I get to celebrate pie at least twice. First on March 14, ideally just before 2 o’clock. That’d be 3/14 1:59. The second celebration, favored more by European pie fanciers (fans of tortes and so forth), is July 22, or 22/7. In the states, or at least at NCSE’s offices, we celebrate that as Pi Approximation Day, while 3/14 is pie day, a day hallowed by tradition and transcendental mathematics as a time to celebrate delicious delicious pastries.

NCSE’s office celebration began on Friday, when we had to scramble to assemble an apple pie from the excellent Bakesale Betty and a great icebox lemon pie. We’ll continue the celebration tomorrow, hopefully with pizza and with at least one of the pies I baked today.

The baking started at a farmers market, where I scored some lemons and mandarins for seasoning, and apples, pears, and rhubarb for filling. Rhubarb pie is the king of pies, with rhubarb-strawberry the queen. Apple pie is the president, a leader but never an aristocrat.

The recipes were all based on my dogeared copy of The Joy of Cooking, tweaked to maximize deliciousness.

First, a rhubarb pie, overflowing with tart yum:

Rhubarb is an acquired taste, but once you’ve got it, nothing measures up. A bit of mandarin zest mellows the rhubarb just enough. I’ve used this recipe many times, and it never fails.

Then comes an experiment, a tarte tatin. It’s made like an upside-down pineapple cake, but with apples instead of pineapple and pie crust instead of cake on the bottom. In this case, it was a mix of Fuji and Pink Lady apples, a combination I’ve enjoyed before. Looking forward to tasting it:

Finally, an experiment with two variables. I’ve made circular apple-pear pies before, but never a square pear pie (this with bosc and D’Anjou pears). Making a square pie was worrisome, but mathematicians assure me that pie are squared, so here goes:
In honor of the day, I modified my usual pattern of steam vents for this pie:

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About TfK

Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at the National Center for Science Education. He is formerly a doctoral candidate at the University of Kansas, in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. When not battling creationists or modeling species ranges, he writes about developments in progressive politics and the sciences.

The opinions expressed here are his own, do not reflect the official position of NCSE. Indeed, older posts may no longer reflect his own official position.